Merck expands CRISPR patent portfolio
Merck has added two US patents to its CRISPR-Cas9 patent portfolio, and is already seeking licensing and product development partners, the German company announced yesterday, May 11.
The patents are the 25th and 26th related to CRISPR-Cas9 granted to Merck worldwide, and only the third and fourth in the US.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a type of gene-editing technology. The latest Merck patents cover “cleavage and integration” technology, which allows researchers to replace genetic mutations associated with diseases with a different genetic sequence, or remove it altogether.
"This is important news for researchers, as CRISPR-based DNA cleavage and integration are fundamental for many genome-editing applications and can be used to develop personalised therapies," said Udit Batra, CEO of the company’s life sciences division.
Merck secured only its second CRISPR patent in the US last month, having been granted the first in February 2019. The German company also has CRISPR-Cas9 patents in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Israel, Singapore and South Korea.
The IP covering CRISPR-Cas9 is dominated by two rival patent portfolios associated with the University of California (UC), and the Broad Institute.
Merck has previously claimed that it has been “ treated unfairly” by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), compared to UC and the Broad Institute.
Last July, a Merck subsidiary asked the USPTO to open an interference proceeding between UC’s CRISPR-Cas9 patents and Merck’s own pending filings.
That came after the office announced a similar proceeding between UC and the Broad Institute, to determine who was the first to discover key uses of CRISPR-Cas9 technology and entitled to the associated patent rights.
Merck’s latest announcement said that “now is the time for the key CRISPR IP stakeholders to come together to simplify technology access for companies conducting CRISPR-based research via patent pooling agreements”. Merck and the Broad Institute entered into a CRISPR patent licensing collaboration in July 2019.
Merck says it is also looking to license its portfolio commercially for product development.
Last November, the German company struck a licensing deal with Evotec, a pharmaceutical developer based in Hamburg.
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